Improve Your Sex Life with Yoga

October 31, 2008 | By Julia In living | Comments(1)

By Sheryl Walters Natural news

Most of us know that yoga is beneficial to our overall health and wellbeing. It puts the body into balance and can improve everything from blood sugar levels to depression and anxiety. But one of the other incredible benefits of yoga is its power to transform your sex life! Yoga allows people to get in touch with their bodies and their sexuality on a deeper level.

Of course all forms of exercise result in a greater sex life than a couch potato routine. Exercise ensures there are no cardiovascular issues, which can result in impotence, low libido, and inability to have a good workout in bed.

But yoga gives the body even more of an edge. Here are some sex life enhancing benefits that you can enjoy from a regular yoga routine.

Less mind chatter and More Body Awareness - In addition to the physical exercise that yoga provides, letting go of the thinking mind by focusing on the breath and the body is also absolutely fundamental. Imagine how this can improve sexuality. Some people find it almost impossible to let go of the constant grind of the mind, even in bed. Yoga is letting go of the mind exercise.

Better sensitivity - Part of yoga is deep, smooth breathing, which is continually shown to relieve anxiety and lower blood pressure. Research has suggested that yoga relaxes the body and mind and can alter the body’s response to stress. This stress busting, calm enhancing state makes getting in the mood easier.

More Potent Orgasms - One of the fundamentals of yoga is to contract the pelvic floor muscles during the practice. Strong pelvic floor muscles mean more potential for longer lasting, stronger orgasms. In addition, yoga helps relieves muscle tension and puts the body into a deep state of relaxation, which is key for more powerful orgasms.

More energy - When the body is in good physical shape, the muscles are relaxed, the mind is focused and calm, and the breath is flowing evenly, the body has more space and is therefore has more energy. Yoga rejuvenates and invigorates, preparing the body for as much sex as desired.

Body Acceptance – When people are unconfident with their bodies, they are less likely to truly enjoy their sexuality because they are focusing on what they perceive as short comings.
Yoga allows a person to observe the mind chatter without getting involved with it. Negative thoughts about physical appearance and the body can be calmly let go of through a regular yoga/meditation routine.

Better Physical Fitness – Yoga tones the muscles, improves strength, increases flexibility, and prepares the body for sexuality.

Discovery of Sexual Positions – With the increase in body awareness of what the body is capable of through exciting yoga positions, yogis are more likely to be adventurous and confident in discovering new and exciting sexual positions.

Filed under: living

Want to be smarter? Get some sleep

October 23, 2008 | By Julia In living | Comments(0)

By Judith Kleinfeld/ Source: Anchorage Daily News

A friend of mine is worrying himself sleepless about getting enough sleep. He is convinced that he just isn’t smart after a short night’s sleep.

He’s right, finds Robert Stickgold, a Harvard medical professor, and Jeffrey Ellenbogen, chief of the sleep division at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Sleep increases your judgment, creativity and memory.

The advice to “sleep on it” before we decide to go to accept a new job or make other life choices, is backed up by the latest research.

Sleep makes you smarter, but you have to get enough sleep and the right kind of sleep. You need more than six hours, and most of us, especially teenagers, don’t get nearly enough sleep to be sharp the next day.

The brain is not sleeping while we sleep. It is working. In fact, during rapid-eye-movement sleep, our brain waves look much like our brain waves when we are awake. Nor do our brains turn off during the alternating periods of slow-wave sleep. Our brain cells fire in a steady rhythm. When we sleep, our brains are still working on challenges. In one study, people were asked to solve difficult mathematical problems using a tedious, time-consuming process.

Then the people were asked to solve similar mathematical problems the next day. Some were allowed to get a good night’s sleep, and others were not.

More than two and a half times the number of people who had gotten sleep figured out the trick.

“Somehow the sleeping brain was solving this problem, without even knowing there was a problem to solve,” write Stickgold and Ellenbogen.

Companies like Google and Cisco have paid attention to such sleep research. They have installed “Energy Pods” with leather recliners and egg-shaped hoods that pull down to block light and noise for their creative employees.

After a nap in the Energy Pod, the employees say they can break out of their tunnel vision and get insight into problems that have stumped them.

Sleep also strengthens our memories. During sleep, the brain combs through what has happened to us during the day, creating new neuronal connections, and consolidating memories.

In another experiment, the researchers asked people to memorize pairs of words, like “blanket-window.” Some people got a good night’s sleep and others were kept awake. Those who had slept recalled far more of the word pairs they had learned the previous day. When researchers tried to confuse people by pairing an old word with a new word, such as “blanket-sneaker,” those who had slept could remember far more of the word pairs they had learned before.

We rehearse difficult tasks when we sleep and do better at them the next day. In another experiment, people learned to type difficult sequences of numbers like “4-1-3-2-4.” After sleep, people’s performance improved, especially on the number patterns they were having most trouble with.

Using functional magnetic resonance imaging that shows which parts of the brain are most active, the researchers found the brain had actually moved the memories for these number patterns while people slept. The next day people used different regions of the brain —- but only if they had slept.

Valuable memories can be filled with emotion. We need to remember what is frightening and destructive and what is satisfying and pleasant. In another study, Stickgold and Ellenborgen showed that memories for emotional experiences did not deteriorate but actually improved after a night of sleep.

Excessive sleepiness is a major cause of accidents. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that sleepy drivers cause more than 100,000 automobile crashes, 71,000 injuries, and 1,550 fatalities each year.

Nearly 37 percent of drivers admit to having fallen asleep at the wheel, found a 2002 Gallup Poll.

“There will be sleep enough in the grave,” said Benjamin Franklin. But sleep research confirms a different Franklin aphorism: ” Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.”

Filed under: living

Halloween Costumes For The Whole Family

October 16, 2008 | By Julia In living | Comments(3)

Amazon’s Costumes Store makes it easy for you to shop a selection of over 10,000 costumes. From Harry Potter and Batman to Tinkerbell and Snow White, we have costumes for the whole family. We even have costumes to dress up your pet. Find the wigs, masks, hats, shoes and other accessories you need to complete your look all in one place.

Large Selection Of Halloween Costumes

Make sure you order you Halloween costumes soon so you get them in time

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Pregnancy Does Not Affect Mother’s Cognitive Function, New Study

October 12, 2008 | By Julia In Young moms | Comments(1)

Pregnancy and motherhood may make us all go a little gooey, but it’s not turning mums’ brains into mush according to mental health researchers at The Australian National University.

The study - conducted by the Centre for Mental Health Research (CMHR) at ANU - suggests that despite fears mothers may have that pregnancy affects their cognitive functions, there is no evidence to suggest that is true. The findings have been released as part of Mental Health Week, which runs until tomorrow (Saturday).

The research team, lead by CMHR Director Professor Helen Christensen, analysed information from the PATH through Life Project database and found that neither pregnancy nor motherhood had a detrimental effect on cognitive capacity.

The PATH Through Life Project began in 1999 by recruiting and interviewing 2500 young people aged between 20 and 24. The group were subsequently followed up in both 2003 and 2007. After eight years of the study, 223 of the women had become mothers and 76 had been pregnant at the time of the research interview.

“Our research suggests that although women - and their partners - think there may be a link between brain capacity and pregnancy and motherhood, there are certainly no permanent ones that we can find,” said Professor Christensen.

“We found no effects of pregnancy on cognitive capacity and motherhood also had no detrimental effects.

“One thing we did observe was that women who have children become marginally less well educated than women who don’t have children in their 20s. While this is hardly surprising, as having children will interrupt education, it is something to watch in the future as early mothers may be disadvantaged later on if they do not continue with further training,” she added.

Professor Christensen said the study was only able to look at the effects of motherhood over a relatively short time, and she hoped that future human data will align with findings about mother rats.

“Rodent data shows that mother rats have improved multi-skilling capacity and less fear responses than non-mothers. The rat data suggests that mother rats navigate mazes more efficiently, have less anxiety and fear and excel at multi-skilling. That sounds to me like almost every mother I know and I hope that the human effects eventually mirror those findings,” she said.

Article Source:
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/125173.php

Filed under: Young moms